As Manchester City’s ever-rising bid for the Rossoneri’s Brazilian playmaker climbs higher into the stratosphere, we’re starting to see the first kinks in Milan’s armor. After Silvio Berlusconi’s spokesmen continued to say no, City finally looks like they are making an offer Milan can’t refuse. Last night as the bid reportedly hit $145 million, word came out that “talks can begin.”

Rumors that the player’s father had travelled to Manchester were confirmed this morning and by this afternoon, the price was rumored to be approaching $150 million. I mean let’s face it, that is a sick amount of cash, especially in a depressed economy. There are a lot of things you can pay for with $150 million, including:

Or how about an entire new AC Milan team for the future? That’s right, the ageing Rossoneri still have a lot of quality in the side but its a club in need of a fresh wave of young talent (and $150 million can buy a lot of talent). Juve’s Gigi Buffon, Roma’s Phillipe Mexes, and Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos are just a few of the players they could scoop up with change to spare for Barcelona’s Sammy Eto’o or Lyon’s Benzema. Instead of being the big loser, AC Milan could end up paving the road to the Scudetto using Manchester City’s gold.

Meanwhile, City’s move is not without a great deal of risk. They are currently a 15th place team with only 22 points, 15 behind Wigan, and have lost five of their last 10 Premiership matches. They’ll need to spend even further to build the right cast to play around Kaka and Robinho, lest they stay mired in mid-table without a Champions League or UEFA Cup slot.

Indications are that City plan to do just that as they are close to signing Hamburg’s holding midfielder Nigel de Jong for 15m euros while they continue to chase strikers Roque Santa Cruz, Craig Bellamy and Scott Parker respectively from Blackburn and West Ham. On top of that, they are reportedly about to close a deal for Espanyol’s talented keeper Carlos Kameni.